09/11/2026
Twenty-five years ago, September 11, 2001, changed our nation forever.
Over the years, I have had the opportunity to stand at the Pentagon where American Airlines Flight 77 struck and to visit Ground Zero, where the Twin Towers once stood.
Being in those places gives you a perspective that photographs and television images simply cannot provide. You feel the weight of the lives lost, the families forever changed, and the tremendous sacrifice of the first responders who ran toward danger while others were trying to escape.
Nearly 3,000 people went to work, boarded airplanes, reported for duty, or simply began an ordinary Tuesday morning and never returned home.
As a law enforcement officer, I have always been especially moved by the courage of the police officers, firefighters, EMS personnel, military members, and ordinary citizens who answered an extraordinary call that day. Their actions remain a powerful example of courage, service, and selflessness.
A quarter-century has passed, but our responsibility remains the same: remember those we lost, honor those who served, support the families who still carry the loss, and teach the generations who were not yet born what September 11 meant to America.
May we also remember the unity that followed the way Americans stood together, helped strangers, supported our first responders, and recognized that what united us was greater than what divided us.
I remember the 2,977 lives taken on September 11, 2001, and all those whose lives were later lost or forever changed because of their service and sacrifice in the aftermath.
We remember their names. We remember their courage. We remember their sacrifice.
25 years later, we will never forget.
